Declining Exports Dragging on Minnesota Manufacturers

Undated (KROC-AM News) - A respected economic report found continued pessimism about the manufacturing sector of Minnesota’s economy due to the strong U.S dollar.

The latest Mid-America Business Conditions Survey of business supply managers put the state’s overall economic index at 41.1 last month. That’s down over 1.5 points from October and marked the second straight month the reading has been below 50, which is an indicator of weakening conditions.

Nearly all of the components of the overall index were under 50 in November, including an employment reading of 42.

The survey’s author, Creighton University Economics Professor Ernie Goss says federal statistics show Minnesota has lost about 800 manufacturing jobs over the past year and he is expecting additional slight job losses into the first quarter of next year because of declining exports.